Below is a press release about the Methods paper ‘Assessing strengths and weaknesses of DNA metabarcoding-based macroinvertebrate identification for routine stream monitoring‘ taken from the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Dragonflies, mayflies and water beetles have one thing in common: They indicate how clean the streams are in which they live. Scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) have developed a DNA-based method, which allows to assess the stream water quality with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The article – ‘Assessing strengths and weaknesses of DNA metabarcoding-based macroinvertebrate identification for routine stream monitoring‘ – was just released in the esteemed peer-reviewed journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Traditional stream assessment using visual identification of indicator species is time-consuming, expensive and procedures are seldom standardised. Especially small organisms may look similar and misidentifications happen frequently. Using a genetic method to identify the species these concerns are not an issue, as even small organisms can be securely identified using a DNA marker. Continue reading “How Clean are Finnish Rivers?”